Brenda Betel, front left, shows her excitement as family gathers after Betel signed in a Torah commissioned for Temple Shir Shalom. John Turk - The Oakland Press

West Bloomfield resident Henry Upfal’s faith led to brushes with Nazis, labor camps and near starvation growing up in Poland during the Holocaust era.

On Monday, the Jewish Day of Remembrance of Holocaust victims, Upfal’s faith was again reaffirmed as he was invited to help create the first Torah that the local Temple Shir Shalom had written specifically for the congregation.

Upfal, a polite man of few words, said the event — held at the Meer Apartments within West Bloomfield’s Jewish Community Center on Maple Road — meant “the whole world” to him.

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He remembers being put onto a cattle train to a labor camp, where the rationed food he was given was hardly enough to keep him alive, and then escaping to the Russian side of the Berlin Wall, where he worked as a lumberjack.

He and his family came to America by boat around 1945, where his father was waiting and had set up a bar, called the Silver Line, along Woodward Avenue. He loved his new home, but he always kept his faith, and wants to pass that down to future generations, he said.

“Coming to America opened up my eyes, I couldn’t believe it ... No one can understand what was there (in Poland during the Holocaust),” said Upfal, 101, who was a barber for several years in Metro Detroit.

“Today was a beautiful honor. I’m Jewish in my heart, Israel is in my mind ... and this is for my grandchildren and my great-great grandchildren.”

Another Meer resident who helped Florida-based Rabbi Moshe Druin sign the Torah scroll was Brenda Betel, whose parents died during the Holocaust.

“I am very proud,” said Betel, after signing the scroll.

Rabbi Druin said this event was a chance to be connected to more than 3,328 years of writing the Torah.

“Today, when we write a Torah, we’re showing the world that we’re still alive, we’re still here and we’re still committed to each other,” said Druin.

Temple Shir Shalom Rabbi Mike Moskowitz said other than the new Torah being prepared for the temple, the congregation holds one that is 400 years old from the Czech Republic and one that was smuggled out of Nazi Germany in a bridal dress and discovered here in 1988.

“Our congregation is proud of the history they represent and the community they come from ... but we’ve never had a Torah that was created here for us,” said the Moskowitz. “It was done as a way to celebrate our 25th year at Temple Shir Shalom and to signify our future plans for years to come.”

About the Author

John Turk covers the police beat and the Oakland County Board of Commissioners for The Oakland Press. He is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University. Reach the author at john.turk@oakpress.com
or follow John on Twitter: @jrturk.